10 THE WESTERN CROW. 
quantities of crickets, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, cut-worms, and spid- 
ers, are consumed. Frogs, lizards, mice, and snakes also appear occasionally 
upon the bill of fare. On the whole, therefore, the Crow is not an economic 
Gorgon, and his destruction need not largely concern the farmer, altho it is 
always well to teach the bird a proper reverence. 
The psychology of the Crow is worthy of a separate treatise. All birds 
have a certain faculty of direct perception, which we are pleased to call in- 
stinet ; but the Crow, at least, comes delightfully near to reasoning. It is on 
account of his phenomenal brightness that a young Crow is among the most 
interesting of pets. If taken from the nest and well treated, a young Crow can 
be given such a large measure of freedom as fully to justify the experiment 
from a humanitarian standpoint. Of course the sure end of such a pet is death 
by an ignorant neighbor’s gun, but the dear departed is embalmed in memory 
to such a degree that all Crows are thereafter regarded as upon a higher plane. 
Everyone knows that Crows talk. Their cry is usually represented by 
a single syllable, caw, but it is capable of many and important modifications. 
For instance, keraw, keraw, comes from some irritated and apprehensive 
female, who is trying to smuggle a stick into the grove; kawk-kawk-kawk 
proclaims sudden danger, and puts the flock into instant commotion; while 
CAW-aW, CAW-AW, Caw-aw, re- = assures them 
again. Once, in winter ; when the 
bird-man, for sport, was mys- 
tifying the local bird 
population by re- 
producing the 
notes of the 
Sereech Owl, a 
company of 
Crows. settled 
in the tops 
of neighboring 
trees, and earn- 
estly discussed 
the probable 
nature of the 
object half- 
concealed under 
a camera cloth. 
Finally, they 
gave it up and — Taken in 
withdrew — as Penton Co 
Photo by 
I supposed. It NEST AND EGGS OF WESTERN CROW. 
the Author. 
